


Keith Birthday Week 2018

by orphan_account



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Drabbles, Gen, don't read unless you want to waste your time, this really isn't any good
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-18
Updated: 2018-10-23
Packaged: 2019-08-02 01:55:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 4,583
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16296074
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: A collection of one shots/drabbles about Keith for the week leading up to his birthday. All will feature a different character and their thoughts about Keith.(These aren't any good at all, honest. Don't read unless you want to waste your time)Day 1: Red Paladin- CoranDay 2: Galra- AlluraDay 3: Mullet- LanceDay 4: Discipline Case- HunkDay 5: Lone Wolf- PidgeDay 6: Brother- ShiroDay 7: Keith





	1. Red Paladin- Coran

**Author's Note:**

> Hello everyone! I've decided to try and write a one shot/drabble a day for the week leading up to Keith's birthday. (Let's see how this goes). Each one will feature someone else's thoughts on Keith (save the last one) and will largely be focused on one of his nicknames/things he's been called. I hope you enjoy!
> 
> (These honestly are terrible and are actually just word vomit, don't read it you actually value your time)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wrote this in literally 30 minutes, and it is completely terrible, but I wanted to do this for Keith's birthday week and this was came out for today. Hopefully tomorrow's will be better.

_ Red Paladin _

Coran found cleaning the Castle calming. He always had, ever since he could walk his grandfather would always enlist his help in his rounds to make sure that the Castle was running properly. And that included keeping it clean.

“You don’t expect a dirty chezi to run properly without making sure its insides are clean, now do you?” Coran’s grandfather would always say, bopping Coran on the head gently with a rag, making Coran giggle. “Make sure that you clean the corner pod, everyone always forgets about that one.”

Cleaning the Castle now let Coran feel closer to his late grandfather. And it also gave him time to think about everything. Currently, he was thinking about the new paladins.

It was strange to see how much their personalities were similar to the paladins of old, and yet, so different.

He could see much of Trigel’s curiosity in the new Green Paladin, and yet so little of her timidness. The new Green Paladin had so much fire to her, something that Coran wouldn’t usually attribute to the  guardian of life.

He could see so much of Blaytz's easy going nature in the new Blue Paladin, but none of his seemingly indifference to others. The new Blue Paladin seemed to constantly want to prove himself in a way that Blaytz never saw a reason to, already always trying to one up the new Red Paladin.

Coran could see a lot of similarities between the new Yellow Paladin and Gyrgan as well, from their appetites and senses of humor. However, what he couldn’t see was the way confident way that Gyrgan would always stand, and his laugh could never be replicated. 

The similarities between the Black Paladin of old and that of new, were striking. At least, when Coran remembered back when Zarkon had yet to be corrupted. They were both strong, willing to listen to their teams, and willing to do anything to protect those that they loved. Coran’s heart ached when he remembered Zarkon’s betrayal. He quickly shook those thoughts aside, and instead considered the new Red Paladin.

From the moment he saw the Red Paladin, he was struck by another young man who used to stand the same way, arms crossed and chin jutting in a way that screamed  _ Just try me. I dare you. _ as his eyes burned with a fire. 

Alfor had grown greatly as he matured, but Coran still remembered his old friend from the time they were teenagers. He remembered the way that Alfor was always doing his own thing, no matter if someone ever told him not to. Especially if someone told him not to. 

From the moment he laid eyes on the new Red Paladin, he had had the same impression. Inside those eyes was a fire burning bright, in a way that made Coran’s heart ache when he remembered that the other who had had a fire like that had his fire extinguished completely.

However, there was something different in the way the new Red Paladin stood. Something guarded. Like he was constantly ready to fight, not in a way that suggested he would start the fight, but as if someone else might attack him. Coran couldn’t help but wonder why this was.

(He later found out, and wished he hadn’t. He felt very angry, and couldn’t believe that some people were vile enough to do that sort of thing to their own kind.)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next up: Galra- Allura


	2. Galra- Allura

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This takes place right after Keith and Shiro make it back from the Blade of Marmoran base. (except the parenthesis at the bottom)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, here's a slightly longer and yet still very short chapter. I think it might be slightly better than the first one, but I have been known to be wrong, so idk. It's still terrible though.

_ Galra _

 

“I-I need a moment. Excuse me,” Allura took one last glimpse of the Red Paladin as she made her way out of the room. In his stance there wasn’t any of the normal fire, instead replaced by a slouch and an ashamed look on his face. He looked absolutely miserable, but Allura couldn’t help the feeling of smugness at that, the feeling of  _ good, at least you know when to be ashamed _ .

Allura made it out of the room with her composure still intact, but the moment the door closed behind her and she was alone, it fled her. She took a quick glance around to make sure that she was truly alone, hiked up her skirt in a way that her tutors would never have approved of, and ran down the long halls of the Castle. She wasn’t sure where she was headed, she just knew that she needed to be anywhere but here. 

After several long hallways followed by sharp twists and turns, she finally stopped running, bending over as she struggled to catch her breath. This was probably why she didn’t realize where she was at first. 

It wasn’t until she had gotten her breathing under control that she looked up. At first the room didn’t look familiar, but that feeling lasted only a moment as old memories came rushing back to her. 

Her father dancing with her, giving her words of encouragement whenever she missed a step. Her mother making her giggle whenever she spun Allura around in circles until she got do dizzy she could barely stand. Watching her mother and father dancing together, feet so light against the floor that they seemed to almost be floating. Their relaxed expressions and the smiles on their faces.

“The ballroom…” Allura whispered to herself, feeling tears prickle her eyes. It had been so long since she had been in here, the last time was before the whole ordeal with Zarkon, back when he was still their friend.

In fact, one of her last memories of coming here was when she was a young teenager, watching her parents glide across the room with a smile on her face as the noise and music of the party filled her ears. Zarkon had come up to her, and for a moment they just watched her parents dance.

“It’s beautiful, the way they dance, isn’t it,” Zarkon’s words were more of a statement than a question, but Allura found herself nodding her head.

“I still don’t understand how they do it. I’ve had so many dance tutors in my life, and yet I doubt I will ever come anywhere close to how they dance.”

Zarkon chuckled. “Me too. I constantly trip over my feet whenever I try.”

Allura shot him a grin. “I do too.” Then an idea came to her. “Well, since we’re both pretty bad at dancing, you wouldn’t make fun of me for stepping on your feet now, would you Uncle Zarkon?”

“Never, so long as you don’t make fun of me for tripping over them.”

“Fantastic. May I have this next dance then?” 

“You may.”

They both truly were terrible dancers, and Allura had bruises on her feet from all the time that Zarkon accidently stepped on them, but by the end of the night she was grinning, and Zakron was grinning right back.

Allura felt a tear trickle down her face at the memory, one of her last before Zarkon betrayed them, and wished so desperately that she could go back to those days, the days spent carefree and happy instead of in a war. Back when her father was alive. Back when the Galra were their friends and allies. 

Which reminded her of the reason she was down in the ballroom in the first place. She had emotionally prepared herself to ally with the rebel Galran group, albeit against her better judgement. However what she had not prepared herself for, was to hear that Keith, the Red Paladin, the right arm of Voltron, their friend was in fact, at least part Galra.

It...it was a troubling thing to learn. Allura wanted to hate him, wanted to kick him out of Voltron, but she found that she couldn’t. Everytime she tried to hate him, memories of his loyalty, his bravery, his fighting prowess all came flooding back to her and she couldn’t bring herself to hate him.

But then she remembered that Zarkon had been like that once. He had once been someone she saw as family, he had once been loyal to her family as well. And look at where that turned out.

_ Galrans will turn on you the moment they see fit. You cannot trust them. _

But Allura couldn’t help the hope that maybe, just maybe, Keith was different. Maybe Keith wouldn’t betray them. Allura knew that you couldn’t trust hope though, so she shoved hope down as she took one last glance around the ballroom before steeling herself to talk to the rebel Galrans to come up with a plan to defeat Zarkon. As for Keith, she decided she would just ignore him for the time being.

(Allura soon realized she had made a mistake. Hope wasn’t always a liar. She just hoped that Keith would come back from his mission to help Thace alive so that she could properly apologize)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next up: Mullet- Lance


	3. Mullet- Lance

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one is very short, largely because I wasn't actually sure what I wanted to write for it. It definitely isn't my finest work, but hope you enjoy regardless.

_ Mullet _

 

Lance let out a sigh of exasperation as he set down his lunch tray by Hunk before sitting down himself.

“Can you believe the nerve of that guy! Three extra training sessions, three! And he didn’t even care!” Lance ranted to his friend.

“He was just like, ‘no problem’ like there wasn’t a problem even though there so obviously is, that is three more training sessions we all have to go to because he just  _ had _ to go showing off again. It’s so unfair.”

Hunk just groaned. “I’m going to feel so sick after tomorrow. I hate the training sessions for pilots, like, just let me do my thing and engineer, I don’t want to have to fly.”

Lance winced sympathetically, patting Hunk on the back. Then his eye caught on a certain mullet entering the cafeteria. 

“Don’t look now, but there’s Mullet himself.”

Lance watched as Keith grabbed his food from the lunch line before wandering over to the far empty table, head ducked and not meeting anyone’s eyes. Lance sort of wished that the kid had looked up so that he could see the glare Lance was leveling him.

“Do-do you think that it’s lonely, sitting there all on his own?” Hunk’s question suddenly caused Lance to have a flashback to all those times as a kid when he had been the odd one out, but he quickly shoved those thoughts to the side.

“Nah, I think he likes it. If he didn’t, he strikes me as the kind of person to do something about it. Besides, usually Shirogane joins him.” Lance scanned around the room for said pilot, before noticing him making his way over to Keith’s table. “Aha, see?”

“Yeah, I guess.” Hunk sounded unsure, so Lance decided to make light of the situation.

“Besides, anyone with that bad of a haircut is just asking for people to stay back. Like seriously? A mullet?”

Hunk laughed nervously, and they had let the subject drop, though it left Lance feeling as if there was some important factor that he wasn’t seeing.

(As Lance learned more and more about Keith, he was starting to understand him better, and realize how wrong he had been at the Garrison. Keith was actually one of the most caring, compassionate, brave person he had ever met. And even his mullet wasn’t as bad as Lance had thought.)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next up: Discipline Case- Hunk


	4. Discipline Case- Hunk

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one is even shorter than the last ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯ Maybe the next one will be longer (no promises)

_ Discipline Case _

 

Hunk was beginning to remember Keith. When Lance had first mentioned that it was Keith, and that he would recognize that mullet from anywhere, Hunk had felt like he should be able to remember what Lance was talking about, but it wasn’t until they were light years away from Earth sleeping in a Castle that it clicked.

Keith.

As in Keith Kogane, the hot headed prodigy that was always causing trouble and that Lance had always complained about. The famous Takashi Shirogane’s trainee. The boy who got expelled after it was announced that the Kerberos mission had failed due to pilot error. The discipline case.

Hunk was not afraid to admit that Keith intimidated him. The way that the kid could snap at any moment, and how he knew how to fight, and the rumors that flew around about him, which were everything from ‘he always slept with a knife under his pillow’, to ‘he knows how to kill a man seven different ways with a paperclip’, to ‘he has already killed twenty people and will not hesitate to off you too’. 

Hunk knew that most, if not all, these rumors were false, but they didn’t help him not fear Keith.

So when Hunk realized that it was  _ the _ Keith Kogane that was up with him in space, he couldn’t help feel slightly worried. The kid got into enough trouble down at the Garrison, now he was in space and thrown into a war against giant space cats, who knew how much trouble he could get into up here. 

Hunk gulped nervously and shifted in his bed. At least they were on the same side of the war, right? That meant that Keith shouldn’t kill him even if Hunk really annoyed him. Right?

(Hunk soon realized that Keith would never kill him. He learned that Keith was unwaveringly loyal to his team, to their makeshift family. And Hunk couldn’t have asked for a better person to be on his side in this war).

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next Up: Lone Wolf- Pidge


	5. Lone Wolf- Pidge

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wouldja look at that. This one's actually over 400 words. I did manage it. And this one may just be my favorite so far, if not, then just a little behind the Allura one.

_ Lone Wolf _

Pidge was adjusting into life in the Castle, thousands of light years away from Earth, from the Garrison, from her home, from her dog, from her mom… Oh how she missed her mom. And her dog. And her home. And the Garrison. And Earth.

Maybe she wasn’t actually adjusting all that well. She was constantly irritable, she felt miserable a lot of the time, and she wasn’t sure what to do with herself. So she did the only thing that she had ever done to cope, thrown herself into technology and her work.

The only brightside she saw to being stranded out here was that maybe she had a chance to finally find her brother and her father. And maybe it wasn’t a huge chance, the universe was huge after all, but it was a higher chance than she had ever had back on Earth. 

This is why she when she saw her first chance at finding her brother, she immediately told the others that she was going. They could find another Green Paladin. She could never find another father or brother though.

But Keith, Keith had told her no. That she shouldn’t go after her family. The thing that she had been searching for for over a  _ year _ . The reason she got kicked out of the Garrison as Katie, then snuck back in as Pidge Gunderson. And now she finally had the chance to find her family, and Keith had yelled at her, telling her not to take it.

She could have punched him for that, who was  _ he _ , Keith, resident hot head, lone wolf, to tell her not to go find her family. She was pretty sure he didn’t even have a family to begin with!

But then there was the attack on the Castle and everything hit the fan. She realized that her place  _ was _ , in fact, here with Voltron and that they needed her. Her family, her family would just have to wait a little longer. She would come for them later, she swore to herself. She was going to find them.

However, just because Keith ended up being right didn’t mean that she just suddenly forgave him with a magical snap of the fingers. He had tried to tell her that she shouldn’t search for her family, the most important thing to her, and that was a big no no.

Later, Keith came to talk to her about it, and it seemed like he was going to apologize, but Pidge wasn’t going to have any of that.

“Pidge, I just wanted to say-” Keith started out as soon as she opened the door. Once she saw who it was though, she tried to close it immediately. 

“Hey, wait,” Keith said, sticking his foot in the door, “I just wanted to say sorry. I shouldn’t have lost my temper back there. I shouldn’t have told you not to look for your family. I’m sorry.”

If Pidge hadn’t still been angry at Keith, then she may have noticed how sorry he really sounded, how the normally confident voice was now soft and quiet, and how his normally strong posture was now slumped, as if he was a child preparing himself for a scolding. As it was, Pidge was angry, and so all of this went over her head.

She snorted in an angry amusement, before snapping at Keith. “Yeah, you shouldn’t have. You should have just minded your own quiznaking business and let me do my thing,” suddenly she felt a lump grow in her throat, and tears burn her eyes, and oh no, she was  _ not _ doing this here in front of Keith. She needed to get him away.

She glared at the floor, and let her voice grow louder as a way to hide the tears behind it. “My family is the most important thing to me. And you were telling me to put it aside.  _ You _ . Do you know what it’s like to have a brother who you thought you would never see again? Do you know what it’s like to be told that your father was dead? No! I don’t think you do!”

“Pidge- I-” had Pidge not been so caught up in her own head, then she would have been able to hear the emotion in Keith’s voice, how it wavered and almost sounded like he was going to cry. But she was too caught up in her own mind, and instead of trying to comforting Keith, she turned her back on him.

“Go away, Keith. Go do your thing as the ‘lone wolf.’” Pidge didn’t even wait for him to leave before closing the door again, only this time, Keith made no attempt to stop it.

Pidge barely made it the few steps to her bed before flopping down and sobbing. In between her sobs, she could almost make out an echo.

(Later she learned that Keith and Shiro were the closest thing to brothers that each had, and she learned about Keith’s father. Never had she ever wanted to time travel and punch her past self in the face so badly.)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next Up: Brother- Shiro


	6. Brother- Shiro

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the longest chapter so far. This chapter probably would have been better if I re watched the first episode of season 7, but I was too lazy to. Anyways, hope its not too bad.

_ Brother _

 

Ever since he was little, Shiro had always wanted a little brother. Or a little sister, he wasn’t really picky. He just wanted a little sibling to love and protect and tease and comfort like all those happy families he saw on TV or at the playground. 

When his parents told him that he was going to be an older brother one day when he was eight, he had been ecstatic. He was finally going to be an older brother!

They soon found out that it was going to a boy, and Shiro gladly threw himself into helping his father paint and decorate his soon-to-be little brother’s room. 

But April 27th, then the day when the baby was finally going to come, the day when he was finally going to be a big brother, everything went wrong. 

His grandparents were watching over him as his father drove his mother to the hospital. They were the ones listening to his happy stories of how he was going to be the best big brother ever, how he was going to play with his little brother and make him laugh and make him happy. They were the ones who smiled at the cuteness of his actions and words.

Then they were the ones with him when he life changed forever. 

It had been hours since they had heard anything from Shiro’s parents, and they were starting to get worried, though they tried their best to hide it from Shiro who was still so happy, so excited. Then came the knock on the door.

“Mr. and Mrs. Shirogane?” It was a police officer, his cap clasped between his hands in front of him.

Shiro’s grandparents shared a worried look before Shiro’s grandfather turned to face the officer. “Yes. That is us. Is something wrong, sir?”

“There’s been an accident,” at those words, Shiro felt his heart go cold. An accident meant that someone had gotten hurt. Did something happen to his new little brother? Was he going to be okay? Or did his mom or dad get hurt? As Shiro worried, he bit his lower lip, and the officer kept talking.

“While your son and his wife were driving, they were hit by a drunk-driver. There were no survivors. I’m sorry.”

Shiro’s grandmother gasped and brought both her hands to her mouth. His grandfather let out a whispered  _ no _ . Shiro couldn’t understand what the officer meant. His parents were okay, right? They had to be. They just had to be.

“Obaasan? Ojiisan? What’s going on?”

The officer suddenly saw Shiro from where he was hidden behind his grandparents’ legs, and his gaze turned even more remorseful. “I’m sorry.” he repeated.

Shiro’s grandfather dropped down to look Shiro in his eyes. As his grandfather gently placed his hand on Shiro’s shoulder, Shiro was alarmed by the tears glimmering in his grandfather’s eyes. 

“Takashi,” the word was so soleum, so unlike his grandfather’s usually cheery tone that it scared Shiro. “I’m sorry, but. But your papa and mama aren’t coming back.”

Shiro didn’t even bother asking about his little brother. He knew that he had gone wherever his parents had.

“Mama, Papa, Ototo,” were the only words that Shiro got before bursting out in tears, his grandfather carefully pulling him into a hug with his grandmother soon joining them. “Mama, Papa, Ototo.”

It had been over ten years since that fateful day. Shiro had long since given up on having a little sibling, he never wanted one again after that day. 

Now he was at the Garrison, the model student. He hoped his parents and grandmother would be proud. 

“Shirogane, are you listening to me?” Iverson demanded, and Shiro immediately snapped to attention.

“Yes, sir.”

“Good. Then you must have heard me ask if you would go do another presentation at Local Ridge Middle School next Thursday. Does that work for you?”

“Yes, sir,” Shiro responded without thinking. 

“Good. Here are the directions.”

Shiro didn’t realize until the day before that Thursday was April 27, the anniversary of his parents death. The thought made him pause, but then he quickly shook his head. Just because it was the anniversary of the worst day of his life didn’t mean that he could just shut down and not do anything. He would be fine.

The next day ended up being chaotic, he woke up late and barely had time to get dressed and grab a bagel before he was hightailing it out of the Garrison, determined not to be late.

He got there five minutes early, which he took to organize his thoughts and appearance in the bathroom so he didn’t look like the just work up twenty minutes ago. He took a moment to gather himself, and then the bell rang, signifying that he needed to get to the classroom. He fixed one last strand of hair in the mirror and took one more deep breath, then walked out of the bathroom confidently and went to the right classroom.

The speech went over well, though there was one kid who looked like he would much be anywhere else but here, staring out the window the entire time. But that was fine, most classes had one or two kids like that.

Then he took the kids down to the simulation, each one doing about average at their attempts. 

But then Shiro called for the kid who had been staring out the window to try. And he was  _ incredible _ . It was the best first run that Shiro had ever heard of, the kid was a natural.

Then Shiro was getting the names of the students who had done well, and the kid’s name wasn’t on the list. When asked why, all the teacher said was that the kid was a bit of a discipline case, he’d never do well at the Garrison.

Shiro was just opening his mouth to argue that the Garrison would be able to look past Keith’s (that was the kid’s name) past discipline issues because of his talent, so long as Keith dropped them at the Garrison of course, when he was interrupted by a squeal of tires.

The kid had stolen his car. Shiro knew that he should be angry, but all he could think of was the look on Matt’s face when Shiro told him that a thirteen year old stole his car, and he wanted to laugh. The moment was made all the funnier by the teacher’s exasperated sigh, as if this wasn’t the first time Keith had stolen a car. For a moment he considered just letting Keith go for it, but the teacher was already calling the police. Besides, it was a Garrison owned vehicle, and they would not appreciate Shiro letting a middle-schooler have it. Also, it was Shiro’s only ride back to the Garrison.

But Keith had caught Shiro’s interest. He saw real potential in the kid, which seemed to be a first for Keith in a way that hurt Shiro’s heart. Everyone deserved to have  _ someone _ believe in them. 

And Shiro determined that day that he would be that person for Keith.

(It wasn’t until much later that Shiro realized that on the anniversary of him losing a brother, he found one.)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next Up: Keith


	7. Keith

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Birthday, Keith!  
> (This didn't come out quiet how I would have liked, but I tried guys, I tried.)

_ Keith _

 

Keith had been called a lot of things throughout his life. Some positive, though most negative.

When his father had been alive, his father had always called him brave. He had called him strong. He had called him smart. 

He had called him determined, just like his mother.

The kids at school, before his father died, had called him weird. Awkward. Loner.

After his father died, they began calling him other things. Troublemaker. Emo. Intimidating. 

Mean, as if he were the one always starting the fights he was constantly dragged into.

His various foster parents called him a fighter. Impulsive. Too hard to handle.

Not the right fit for them, as if he was an unwanted shoe to throw away.

To his teachers, he had been bad news. Temperamental. Likely to start fights.

The kid that no teacher wanted in their class. 

Shiro had called him a natural at flying. The best pilot of his generation. His friend.

His brother, Keith could not deny the warm feeling in his chest at those words, but wished he could have, no matter how nice it felt in the moment.

Because the moment he got the news that Shiro was dead, it had fled him and made him feel so much colder and emptier in its absence.

His new team had called him a lot of things too, some hurt while others didn’t. 

Coran had called him the red paladin. 

Allura had called him galra.

Lance had called him mullet.

Hunk had called him a discipline case.

Pidge had called him lone wolf.

Shiro had called him brother.

Some of the names came out as slips, like Hunk’s, but most of them came out regularly, like Allura’s. 

They stung a bit, but it was okay. Keith had learned how to deal with them long ago. 

Because Keith learned that no matter what people called him, he would always be one thing.

He would always be Keith. And no one could change that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Anyways, this concludes this story! (Is it a story? er...) This concludes this collection of drabbles. I hope you enjoyed, as terrible as these all were, I had a lot of fun writing them.  
> Thanks for reading!  
> A special thanks for everyone who left kudos, and especially to those who left comments, y'all are the best!
> 
>  
> 
> -MasterOfMyDestiny


End file.
